hello everyone, I'm very new to this forum and to whole this burnirn thing... In a few days I will have my first dvd recorder, nec 4550a, so i have a cuple of questions. My first, and only priority is the quality of the recording (large singe rar files) i dont really need to be able to play on other computers... it will be a private collection, but i will _have to_ be able to play it on that same recorder any time i want. Is there a way to make sure that everything is ok with the dvd ( i will probly use verbatim dvd+r 16x) prior and even more importan after the burnirg, so that i can delete the original file from my hard drive and not worry whether or not I will be able to read that data from dvd. And do you have some tips... should I replace the firmarware, should i reduce the recording speed in order to improve the burnirg quality.. what program should i use? nero7, nero6? or whatever... just throw something here :)

thx

SithTracy -> RE: burning tips? (5/1/2006 4:50:47 PM)

May be overkill and over peoples heads, but I have a batch script and I do a compare using Gnu Privacy Guard (open source OpenPGP product) and issue the command on the source file vs. the disc version... the command to get an MD5SUM is:

If you get a match on the md5sum (disc file vs hard disc source) you can be confident you have a good backup.

If you don't want to use encryption, there is a single executable called md5sum that does the same thing.

DrageMester -> RE: burning tips? (5/1/2006 6:03:04 PM)

When you want to archive something from your computer onto optical media, I suggest you do the following if the data is important to you:

Use the "verify" feature of your burning program to make sure your copy is identical to the original

Burn at least two copies on different media from different manufacturers, or on different types of media from the same manufacturer.

Use whichever burning speed gives you the best quality burn with your particular burner/firmer/media combination

Store at least one copy in a safe location

For your NEC 4550 and Verbatim DVD+R 16x (MCC 004) media you will probably have good burns at any speed from 6x to 16x (but don't fall into the trap of believing that the lowest recording speed is always better).

SithTracy -> RE: burning tips? (5/1/2006 8:31:42 PM)

I'll use Nero as an example here... I have used the verify feature before and been burned... that is why I wrote my md5sum batch, though I use it very little anymore. I was lucky... the company I downloaded the program from had no problem resetting my download so I could pull the data/installer file I thought I lost again.

Antonio -> RE: burning tips? (5/2/2006 1:55:47 AM)

For my backups I use decent media, TY and Verbatim only. I burn them at their certified speed. Most times I get the 8X media. I much agree with Dragemester, the lowest recording speed is not always the best.